 "Piyush Goyal")
The spice industry should work together to explore new markets, strengthen the existing ones and focus on value-added products to reach USD 10 billion exports by 2030, Union Minister for Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal said on Saturday.
"Currently our total exports of spices is at USD 4 billion. Rather than exporting spice in the raw form only, we should look for value-added products as we go forward. We should start building up more markets by exploring new markets and strengthening the existing ones. We should look at creating factories for value-added products to reach USD 10 billion exports by 2030 for the spices sector," Goyal said addressing the World Spice Congress 2023.
Citing an example, the minister said, during Covid-19 pandemic, the demand for turmeric grew tremendously because of its medicinal properties and in terms of exports it has the potential to reach USD 2 billion.
"If we focus all our energy on tumeric by developing value-added products, turmeric exports alone have the potential to touch USD 2 billion," he added.
The minister also suggested creating 'Bharat' as a brand or a certification representing high quality and premium spices products.
"Let's create a 'Bharat' brand or some certification that can help in associating high quality spices products to the country. Don't export any sub-standard products that can harm the image of the country. The industry should focus on innovation, productivity, sustainability and exclusivity and market spices as a premium product when it goes to the world market," Goyal said.
Further, Goyal said that over 35 million (or 3.5 crore) people of Indian origin are living overseas, who can themselves add a lot of value to the spice business.
"Indian diaspora living overseas can help in expanding the spice consumption to others communities. In fact they can become your brand ambassadors and help the industry to grow its market internationally," he stated.
The minister congratulated the Spices Board on conducting the Spice Congress after a hiatus of 7 years and also requested it to organise a world class exposition, symposium and conference of the spice industry in Delhi in 2024, inviting all players and international competitors and buyers to capture the imagination of the world.
"Spices represent the rich cultural heritage of our country. Therefore, the industry should invite all its competition and buyers from all over the world in larger numbers in the 2024 edition of the World Spice Congress and also make it into an annual event," he added.
Now is the time for the spices industry to go that extra mile to capture the world market, said the minister.
"As the biggest producer and consumer of spices, we should also encourage other countries to increase their spices consumption. We have a lot to offer, whether it is saffron from Kashmir or Kerala's unmatched black pepper, Gujarat's ginger or Nagaland's chili, there is so much that India has to offer to the rest of the world. We should work to make India the preferred source of spices," Goyal added.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
